


beginnings

by myticanlegends



Category: Druck | SKAM (Germany)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Coffee Shops, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, Miscommunication, Pining, a singular bed, and also, enemies to fake lovers to lovers, or galaxy brain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:35:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21643042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myticanlegends/pseuds/myticanlegends
Summary: Leonie thinks that Sara likes Matteo. Sara thinks that Leonie likes David. Naturally, the only solution to this is for David and Matteo to take themselves out of the situation. By faking dating. It's all going to work out perfectly fine. Only problem? David has desperately tried to hate Matteo for months.Introducing a mess of a fic featuring a what-could-have-been, barrels of dumbassery, Shakespearan levels of a nonexistent love square, and flirting via coffee.
Relationships: Matteo Florenzi/David (Druck), Sara Adamcyzk/Leonie Richter
Comments: 23
Kudos: 257





	beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> This is for @dusuessekartoffel for the druck gift exchange project! I had a blast figuring out how I wanted to tell both a fake dating and an enemies to lovers fic, so I hope it turned out okay and I hope you have a blast reading it! I snuck in a few other tropes for you just in case. 
> 
> Thank you so much to @shakshuka-grandpasweaters for putting this together. The amount of work and coordination you put into it is amazing, and I've had such a great time seeing people's gifts.

_March_

**Act I: The First Beginning**

* * *

David remembers seeing Matteo for the first time. It had been on his first day at his new school. He had spent all day hoping that no one would notice him, but then he had passed Matteo in the hallway and accidentally met his eyes. He remembers thinking, _he’s cute_ , and more importantly, _I want to get to know him, even if it means he gets to know me._

When he looks back, trying to find the glimmer of that feeling again, he finds Matteo looking too.

But then he makes friends with Leonie and Sara and learns two things horrifyingly fast. 

1\. Sara likes Matteo. They’ve been dating for about a month now and Sara thinks they’ll make things official soon. She spends gym class gushing about his cool boy attitude and how cute his hair is when it’s messy and how his hands are so soft-

David remembers the boy in the hallway and tamps down the feeling of disappointment. Matteo is already someone else’s. There will be no getting to know him which is probably for the best. Especially when he looks over to see Leonie and learns the second thing:

2\. Leonie is in love with Sara, but Sara doesn’t know. Her smile is fond when she watches Sara’s rambling, but David recognizes the longing and bitter look in her eyes when Sara talks about Matteo again.

When she sees David notice, Leonie quickly looks away.

David changes the subject and asks them about the school instead. Who to know, where to go, what teachers to avoid. Leonie sends him a grateful glance and David smiles back. Just like that, he’s part of the group. They include him in their conversations and in exchange, David draws topics away from Matteo whenever possible. Leonie doesn’t need to know that there’s a bit of selfishness to not wanting to hear about what he wants to have learned in person.

When Sara announces that she and Matteo are together near the end of the week, it’s not the aching revelation it could have been compared to the sheer devastation of Leonie’s expression that’s quickly covered with a smile. 

Leonie catches him outside of gym class with an uncharacteristic hesitancy, “Hey. Could you not tell Sara that I…”

“Yeah,” David immediately assures her. He isn’t about to out someone else’s secrets. “Of course.”

“I hate him,” Leonie adds abruptly after a short pause. “He doesn’t even like her, he’s just using her to get cool points with his friends, but she doesn’t notice and I can’t say anything without sounding jealous.”

“I don’t know him.”

“Trust me,” Leonie says. “He’s going to break her heart.”

It sounds more like he’s breaking Leonie’s. Leonie must catch something in his gaze because she straightens, remarkably determined for someone so small, and offers him a smile. “Anyway, thanks. Sorry for spilling that on you, you just seemed...”

“Yeah,” David smiles. “I get it.”

He agrees to meet her at an Abi-prank meeting. He knows both Sara and Matteo also agreed to go, it’s why Leonie wanted back-up, but somehow it’s still a surprise when he runs into Matteo in the hallway again. He had only seen him once before and it all comes rushing back, pulling him toward Matteo like a magnet. His heart stutters in a moment of weakness before he reminds it of Leonie and Sara, and he lets himself frown.

“Um,” Matteo interrupts his narrow path toward the door, reaching out as if to stop him, and then advises, “I wouldn’t head in there.”

David hadn’t expected to even interact. “Why?”

“They’re doing some kind of trust circle thing. You know, with holding hands? Unless you feel like doing something like that,” Matteo explains. It’s arrogant and cocky but David’s gaze falls to his hands with the traitorous thought, _I wouldn’t mind holding yours_.

“No,” David lies, a little sharper than intended.

Matteo blinks and then digs around in his jacket, going for a second attempt. “Fancy a joint?”

David reminds himself of the way Leonie had said that he would only break Sara’s heart and how hurt she had looked when Sara had said she and Matteo were finally together. And then he shoves into through the abi-prank meeting door instead. “No thank you.”

When the meeting is over, Matteo is nowhere to be seen and Sara is upset she can’t find him.

* * *

_April_

**Act II: The Beginning That Could Have Been**

* * *

“Hey,” David says, knocking on the door to Matteo’s room. Behind him, a few people pass by on their way to the door as a party celebrating the last few weeks of abi exams dies down. 

Matteo looks up from where he’s clutching a pillow on his bed.

David doesn’t know why he followed him in here. It wasn’t even that he liked Matteo. For over a month, he’d been listening to Sara complain about how he ignored her texts, how small he made her feel, and then dealt with how angry and upset and exhausted that it made Leonie. Then Matteo would apologize, Sara would call him sweet again, but nothing got better and it only served to convince David that Matteo must have been the biggest asshole in the world. 

He had once let Matteo be kicked off a bus without having a ticket and from there it had spiraled into glares in hallways and launching to Sara’s defense, always at the ready to pull Leonie away. But even now, there was a softness to seeing Matteo alone; like seeing someone who was just as lost as David and trying to fit in.

So here he is, hovering by the door and waiting to see if Matteo even wants company at all.

Matteo lowers his headphones. David takes that as permission to come in, sitting on the far corner of his bed when he can’t think of anywhere else to go. Then he waits. Matteo doesn’t say anything.

“Are you okay?” David finally asks.

It’s like the question releases a dam. Matteo lets out a shaky laugh and his eyes fill with tears that he tries blinking away. He’s still clinging to that pillow like it’s a lifeline and it’s unfair that no one else noticed or is here. 

“No,” Matteo croaks. He smiles sadly as if he’ll convince David it’s okay anyway. “You should go back, Leonie might be looking for you.”

“Leonie is walking Sara home,” David says. He can’t bring himself to be mad about that.

Matteo nods. He shifts a little to his left so there’s a spot on the top of the bed where David can sit right next to him. David hesitates before taking it. 

Their shoulders touch, arms pressed together. David breathes slow and deep, feeling the slight shaking of Matteo beside him. He wants to touch more, to comfort him or ground him, but he’s not sure what’s allowed past what Matteo has already given him. Matteo lets his head fall back against the wall.

David glances over at him, looking for a sign on what he should do, only to find Matteo looking back. David wonders what would happen if he had accepted that first joint instead of sticking to Leonie and Sara’s side. He wishes the person that he has to defend his friends from wasn’t the same as the person that he wants to get to know. In that universe, when Matteo’s gaze falls to David’s lips, there would be nothing stopping them from kissing except each other.

But they are not in that universe. 

In this universe, David thinks of Sara, drinking way too much, and Leonie carrying her home while cursing out Matteo’s name, and he forces himself to turn away. If anyone saw them, David’s entire life would implode. Matteo’s life would implode.

“Sara,” David explains.

Matteo collapses in on himself. “Oh yeah.”

“Oh yeah?” David laughs dryly. “She’s your girlfriend.”

Matteo looks exhausted. Understanding dawns on David with just that look. He should have known all along: the way Matteo hides in his jacket, letting things happen to him rather than doing it at all, and snapping when things got too much. David doesn’t think Matteo has ever said anything needlessly cruel to Sara. He just hadn’t been there at all or was trying desperately to create some semblance of space. He’s using Sara to hide.

But David can’t stay. He’s not in a position to help Matteo, not when the whole goal of this year, this new school, was to lay low. David has friends now. Friends that Matteo has been hurting, whether he means to or not, and if Leonie finds out this happened, she is going to kill them both. She’s only known David a month or so, she could cut him out completely. He’ll lose them and the gym teacher is already on his back about testing so if his secret comes out… who knows if Matteo would stay too. He doesn’t expect Matteo to stay anyway, not when he’s closeted enough to have a girlfriend.

“I’ve got to go,” David realizes.

“David,” Matteo begs, scrambling up to reach for him again, but David yanks his sleeve away.

He doesn’t have anything to grab and there’s silence outside the door to suggest the last of the stragglers are gone. Matteo’s roommates have gone to bed. He’ll be able to storm out without anyone having noticed he’d ever been here at all.

“David,” Matteo tries again.

“Try to answer your girlfriend’s texts more often,” David says, harshly so that Matteo will let him go. Part of him means it. He can’t hate Matteo for trying to fit in, but he can hate him for being so dismissive. For doing this with so little thought and not caring about who he hurt or that it could ruin what David has so precariously put together.

He’s angry at himself for almost letting it happen even when he knew it was a bad idea.

Matteo falls silent, but David doesn’t bother looking behind him. He flees.

The next week, a video leaks of David arguing with the gym teacher about what gender he should be graded as. Leonie convinces him to come back and retake his exams but that summer, he packs his bags and escapes Berlin.

* * *

_8 months later_

_December_

**Act III: The Real Beginning**

* * *

David’s coffee tastes like a heart attack again. He doesn’t think Matteo bothered adding any coffee today, just a disgusting mix of milk and sugary flavor shots that make him want to gag. David refuses to gag. Not with Matteo smirking at him from behind the counter. He can’t give him that satisfaction. Instead, he meets Matteo’s watchful eyes and raises his cup for another sip. 

It’s just as disgusting as the first sip, if not worse. It tastes strongly of pumpkin spice, an already horrible sugary flavor, but today Matteo has managed to sneak in other flavor shots too. Whatever they are, they don’t mix well. 

Matteo almost looks impressed. At his side, Sara whispers something slyly to him. They both laugh. David wishes Sara would go back to the till and stop her flirting before Leonie gets here but no such luck.

Leonie glares up at the front counter as she plops down across from David’s seat, grabbing his coffee and giving it a good pull. Perhaps the only victory of his poisoned drink is that Leonie immediately spits it back out, her attention toward him instead of the daily flirt fest happening at the front of the cafe. “God, gross. Again?”

David shrugs and looks up just in time to see Matteo hiding a smile behind the espresso machine that says that he saw Leonie try the drink too. Shithead.

“He needs to get over himself,” Leonie continues, unaware. “He’s in a professional work environment and we should be telling his manager.”

They really should. David can’t keep coming here and spending money on coffees that he doesn’t drink. But it’s a matter of pride now. He hadn’t been expecting to see Matteo ever again, and yet there he had been, working at the local cafe at David’s university. David is not proud to say he might have been a bit snappish when he’d seen him. He claimed Matteo got his order wrong when he hadn’t, and now Matteo was making sure David had a legitimate reason to complain if he ever did again.

He’s not about to cave and admit defeat now.

Leonie sighs and looks toward the front again where Sara stands at the till. When she goes to get something from the back, she passes Matteo with a kiss on the cheek and Leonie scowls. David hadn’t been there this summer but he got the story from phone calls with Leonie. Matteo had ended up exploding at Sara and broke up with her rather publicly at the abiball. Sara had been distraught. Just when things started to look like they’d be back to normal, Matteo apologized to Sara. They talked a few times before she forgave him but after that they became friends. Now Sara is back to gushing about Matteo again. And worse, Matteo doesn’t shy away from affection anymore; he seems happy and pays attention, which means Leonie doesn’t even have the _"he’s an asshole"_ defense on her side. It leaves her frustrated to no end.

Matteo smiles prettily at someone he’s handing a drink, and the part of David that had first seen him in that hallway, that had almost kissed him, burns. It’s still there, no matter how he tries to get rid of it.

David can stand the coffee. That’s something he has to bear, and he’s willing to put some blame on himself. But at this point, there’s only so much pining he can handle. Leonie deserves better. And Sara deserves someone who likes her back.

“Matteo!” David calls after Matteo leaving his shift at the cafe.

It’s cold outside but David is bundled up in one of his scarfs and a thick coat as he huddles in nearby the heat of the cafe building. Leonie had gone to the library to start working on a marketing project, but David is sick and tired of all this anger welling up inside of him and so he had stayed behind.

Sara’s shift will still be a few more hours. It’s the perfect time to corner Matteo, and the planned timing of it makes David feel like he’s in a mobster movie about to beat him up. Matteo’s head snaps in his direction, looking almost as if he expects the same thing too.

Matteo shuffles over anyway, huddled into his coat for warmth, and stares at him in confusion a beat too long before asking, “Did you like your drink?”

“No,” David snorts. “How many shots of pumpkin spice was that?”

“Ten,” Matteo answers easily. “And three peppermint.”

David makes the same face he did when he had tried the drink. It’s probably the least attractive face in his repertoire — not that it matters. Matteo only grins before looking around for the first time like he’s wondering what David is doing hanging outside of his place of work without anyone else.

“Um…” he offers. “What’s up?”

David gets straight to the point. “You need to stop encouraging Sara’s flirting.”

Matteo blinks in surprise. “Uh… why?”

“Because you don’t like her?” David stares back at him. He doesn’t how to explain that he should care about other people other than the very obvious, “I’m not saying you need to tell anyone, do that in your own time, but you’re leading her on. Again.”

“I’m not-” Matteo stutters, and then looks toward the cafe where Sara is inside. “She knows that I’m gay.”

“What?” David asks, confused.

Matteo shrugs sheepishly. He blows a breath of cold air up into the sky and admits, “I told her this summer. I’ve been seeing a counselor and he encouraged me to start telling people, so. Sara knows. All my friends know.”

“Oh,” David says. His anger looks for somewhere to go but hard to be mad at a person who has just admitted to seeing coming out and seeing a counselor, and it’s especially harder when David has seen him at his lowest. He desperately tries to cling to come semblance of keeping the conversation where he wanted it to go. “Then why’s she flirting with you?”

Matteo shrugs again, shifting on his feet. “To make someone jealous?”

There goes another hole in every reason David had decided to confront him. Matteo can’t be blamed for Sara’s actions if she knows exactly what she’s doing. David’s stomach sinks.

“Who?” he asks.

_Please be Leonie._

Matteo looks uncomfortable. “I can’t tell you.”

“Why not?”

“The person she likes already likes someone else so,” Matteo tries to dismiss. “It doesn’t matter anyway.”

Not Leonie then. David doesn’t know of anyone else that is always in the cafe when Sara is doing her flirtatious act, at least that he’s noticed. He moves to look through the window to see if he can recognize anyone inside but comes up with nothing.

“Do you like Leonie?” Matteo’s question interrupts David still trying to piece things together.

“No. She’s my best friend,” David retorts easily. He freezes. “Why?”

Matteo’s cheeks turn pink even with the cold weather and David is about to start reevaluating his whole semester, but then he realizes this must be a related question.

“I don’t like Leonie,” David sounds out loud. “And Leonie doesn’t like me either.”

“She doesn’t?” Matteo asks.

It’s the fact the question is about Leonie that gets all the puzzle pieces click. David’s eyes widen. Matteo looks horrified he might have revealed a secret but David says it anyway, accusingly, “Sara’s been trying to make Leonie jealous!?”

“Leonie doesn’t like you?” Matteo asks for clarification.

“No, Leonie likes Sara!” 

They both have to stare at each other for a minute taking in this new information. David has been dealing with Leonie’s pining for so long that he doesn’t know what to do now that he’s learned it’s requited. His entire world has been turned on its head.

“Okay,” he says, working out a plan as he goes. “I tell Leonie that Sara’s been trying to make her jealous?”

“No!” Matteo immediately says. “She can’t know I told anyone.”

That’s fair. David doesn’t want Leonie knowing that he told Matteo, of all people, that she’s been crushing on his ex. He groans. He hates that he and Matteo know this now but they can’t tell either of their friends how they learned it. “So what instead? They have to figure out we both aren’t actually in the picture somehow.”

Matteo locks eyes with him and somehow they are both thinking of the same idea. Matteo could stop letting Sara pretend to flirt with him, but there’s no guarantee Sara would stop unless she knew that Leonie wasn’t going to take a chance with someone else. That someone else being David. The best way to show they both weren’t interested without getting anyone else involved was to pretend they were both interested in-

It’s quite possibly the dumbest idea that David has had in a while but it might work. If they're willing to put up with each other that long, at least.

“What if we agreed to pretend to date until they get together,” David suggests carefully.

Getting Leonie and Sara to believe them might be hard. They’d have to be careful about it, and somehow manage to be convincing for who knows how long, but if it finally got Leonie and Sara together… David hadn't thought he'd ever be this close to finally getting the two of them together.

Matteo runs his hand through his messy hair. The frizz on his gloves makes it stick all over the place. David is reminded of the feeling he had gotten before he had almost kissed Matteo, before it had made a turn for the worse, and can feel it building up now. He wants to know Matteo, despite everything. There’s a flash in Matteo’s eyes after a moment of apprehension when David thinks he sees the same.

“Okay,” Matteo agrees, sticking out his hand.

“Okay,” David says, and then shakes it.

The plan for Leonie is simple. They come into the cafe a couple of days later. David and Matteo will flirt a little bit, just enough that Leonie notices, and hopefully it’s enough of a base to start convincing her they’d actually date. 

David places his order at the till and turns to wait for his drink only to realize Matteo is already passing it over the counter with a grin. David can’t be blamed for the hesitancy he uses to take it; Matteo has done weird things with his coffee orders for so long that having one immediately ready is not a good sign. He can sense Leonie at his shoulder and knows that no matter what it is, he’s got to be convincing.

He takes from Matteo. When he takes a sip, he finds that not only is it what he ordered but Matteo has added a little spice to it as well. David blinks in surprise.

Matteo waits for his reaction with his usual intrigue, only a couple feet away and bouncing on his toes like a puppy, forcing David to give in and provide it.

"Do this have cinnamon?” David asks.

"Yep," Matteo says. 

"It's good," David ventures to offer.

“I can make good coffee if I want to be able to,” Matteo says innocently.

“I guess I don’t have to boycott the store after all,” David agrees with equal innocence.

“You were coming here for the coffee?” Matteo asks.

David chokes on his drink from where he’s about to have more as he faces the devilish smirk of Matteo Florenzi. He doesn’t know what he expected but it wasn’t that. It doesn’t help that if David had been coming here just for the coffee, he would have stopped coming ages ago. But two could play at that game.

“It’s an added bonus,” David says. He lets his eyes travel down and then back up to meet Matteo’s eyes to find him flushing. 

Matteo looks ready to fire back another remark but Leonie clears her throat. Matteo’s grin slips as he remembers he’s got other orders to make. David laughs behind his cup as Matteo scurries back into doing his job. He can tell Leonie is eyeing him in disbelief. He thinks his cheeks might be a bit pink in embarrassment. They started too strong. Leonie is going to question everything. 

As soon as it's set on the counter, Leonie snatches up her drink and drags David to their usual table with a hissed, “What was that?”

“What was what?” David asks.

“ _That,_ ” Leonie says more emphatically. She nods toward the counter.

David can’t help but grin. “I don’t know.”

Leonie looks like she wants to say something but then her eyes widen and she grips David’s wrists where he’s holding his cup. She’s surprisingly strong for someone so small. “Holy shit.”

“If you want to try it, you can,” David says genuinely confused, but she’s already turning the cup towards him so that he can see the little number written sloppily on the side.

That fucker.

He looks back at Matteo who grins devilishly, the same way he grins when he’s waiting to see David’s reaction to whatever new poisonous concoction that he’s created next, and David’s stomach does not swoop. Matteo is just showing off because Leonie is watching.

“ _Holy shit_ ,” Leonie repeats with a delighted whisper. “He’s gay.”

“You don’t know that,” David says, trying to rein her in before she starts guessing at things that aren’t immediately obvious with a phone number on his coffee cup.

“Do you think that he’s just been flirting this whole time?” Leonie asks. “With the drink thing?”

David does not want to break her heart by telling her that was actually because he’d been an asshole. He fiddles with his cup to look at the number and it suddenly hits him that it’s Matteo Florenzi’s phone number. Even if they’re just pretending, David has it now and it makes it seem all a bit real. He had never had it before. “I don’t know? Maybe?”

When he looks up, Leonie is watching the way his fingers brush over Matteo’s messy scrawl. There’s a hesitant pause before Leonie asks, “Do you want him to have been flirting?”

Matteo hadn’t been flirting. It had been exactly what it appeared to be. But if it had been Matteo flirting… David doesn’t know what his answer would be. But he knows what his answer has to be for this to be convincing.

“I wouldn’t have minded,” David admits. He thinks that Leonie believes him because it's the truth.

It’s not an actual date. David has to keep telling himself that. Sara must have told Matteo at some point that Friday is when she shares a class with him, and Matteo is just picking him up so that she sees that they’re going off together. It’s all part of their great plan to make Sara realize that David isn’t a threat to Leonie and make Leonie realize Matteo isn’t a threat to Sara.

After Sara sees them together, they’ll likely just part ways. It’s not a date, no matter how Matteo had phrased it when texted him the other day.

David sits through class without paying attention to the lesson. All he manages to come up with in his notes is a small absentminded sketch of familiar hands.

When he exits the classroom with Sara, trying his best to keep up with her conversation on the topic he hadn’t listened to, Matteo isn’t waiting outside. Somehow, the plan falling through doesn’t ease any anxiety. If anything, it makes it worse. 

Sara notices him check his watch. Noon.

“Got somewhere to be?” she asks curiously.

David debates telling her that he’s hanging out with Matteo. Even if he doesn’t show, telling her that he’s got a date still gets a point across. But David doesn’t want to press if Matteo has decided to back out. 

When they step outside the building, Matteo is waiting outside in his warm scarf and sweaters. David is flooded with instant relief. He hadn’t changed his mind. 

Sara follows David’s gaze to find that Matteo is holding two coffees. 

“Hey,” Sara greets first, confused.

“Na,” Matteo greets David.

“Na,” David says with a nod. He eyes the second coffee and raises an eyebrow. “Who’s that for?”

Matteo looks between both Sara and David. It’s obvious that he’s brought it for David but flirting is one thing. Explaining why is another. Especially when it’s denying Sara coffee. She’s already halfway toward instinctively reaching for one, held back only by the fact that taking it would mean David doesn’t get one.

“They’re both for me,” Matteo decides.

David cocks his head at him knowingly. “Oh yeah?”

Sara carefully withdraws her hand away from any impending argument. David has always up for challenging Matteo’s bullshit. Usually that ends up causing fights or petty challenges, but this is not going to be a fight. It can’t if they ever want Sara to believe they’re going on a date.

Matteo shrugs and takes a giant gulp from both cups. David hates him. He doesn’t know why he agreed to this plan. He feels like he’s burning up from the inside out, and yes, that’s hate, what else would it be?

“Do you still want one?” Matteo asks.

“Gross, Matteo,” Sara wrinkles her nose. “No thank you.”

David snatched up one of the cups and drinks from it before he implodes. They’ve done this exchanging of challenging looks before but now David’s lips are where Matteo’s have just been and he can’t stop thinking about that. Maybe if David hadn’t been so scared before, and Matteo so careless...

Matteo turns bright red and David knows he’s thinking about that too. 

“So what are you doing here?” Sara asks Matteo finally, after much too long of staring.

“Oh,” Matteo says, blinking away, embarrassed. “Just here to-“ he looks over at David as if he would be the one to change his mind, and when he doesn’t, Matteo finishes lamely, “We’re going out to get lunch.”

Sara is still looking between them and the coffee cups, confused.

It’s not obvious enough. The whole point was to make it obvious. Like they’re actually going on a date. David braces himself and turns to take Matteo’s free hand. “Ready to go?”

For a second David thinks he isn’t going to do anything. But then a small smile grows on Matteo’s face as he looks down at their linked hands. If he tries to hide it, he doesn’t do very well. 

David’s heart pounds. 

“Yep!”

Sara blinks at them, turns half around like she’s simply going to walk away, and then glances back to make sure that she’s processing this correctly. Then her eyes widen very pointedly at Matteo. For an actress, she is not very subtle. She has the same holy shit face Leonie had, but unlike Leonie, it transforms into a bright grin.

“Oh, okay!” she says. “Have fun at lunch.”

And then she’s gone. If David knows Sara well enough, she’s headed to go gossip to Leonie about it. David hadn’t expected to convince them so easily. 

He drops Matteo’s hand as soon as she disappears and his own hand turns cold without it. They’re both standing in the middle of the sidewalk and David has legitimately no clue what to do now. Who would have thought this would be the hard part?

“We don’t have to go get lunch,” he offers.

“Oh,” Matteo says. He sounds disappointed. 

“Or, you know, we can,” David rushes out. “If you want to.”

“I have sandwich stuff at my place?”

“Okay,” David agrees. He doesn’t stick out his hand again for Matteo to hold as he leads the way but it’s a close thing. 

Matteo doesn’t start walking. “I didn’t know what classroom was yours.”

“That’s okay,” David assures him. “Thanks for the coffee."

“Yeah,” Matteo says. “Caramel latte. That’s your favorite, right?”

“Yeah,” David agreed, looking down at the cup. He hadn’t even noticed. But apparently, Matteo had noticed enough to know what to get him. He had known what to make David the other day too. David desperately tries coming up with something nonchalant to say so that no one has to know he’ll be thinking why Matteo bothered finding out late into the night. He ends up joking, “Keep up the free coffees and we might have to extend this fake dating thing a while.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Matteo grins.

They walk to a nearby bus station and ride the bus to Matteo’s flatshare. The last and only time he had been on a bus with Matteo was when he had let him be kicked off.

“Got a bus pass?” David whispers.

Matteo raises his head defiantly. “No.”

Luckily no one comes through to check tickets.

The apartment is empty when they arrive. David has been here what feels like a thousand times accompanying Sara to parties held by Matteo’s friends or Mia’s friends or whoever wanted to hold a party. But it feels different when there’s just the two of them there.

Matteo has a panini press which is already more effort than he expected to be put into their sandwiches. Then again, Matteo doesn’t have too many sandwich ingredients other than bread and cheese. David doesn’t feel comfortable enough to joke around about adding more. 

Instead, he finds himself glancing toward Matteo’s bedroom. 

Matteo plates a sandwich and sets it across from him, following his gaze. His cheeks turn red again.

“I wasn’t ever trying to hurt Sara,” Matteo says abruptly. When David looks over at him in surprise, he clears his throat and continues. “I just- I was tired of pretending but I didn’t think about- She’s one of your best friends and… she’s one of mine now. So I’m sorry if you thought I was trying to make you pick or-”

“It’s okay,” David interrupts and finds that it’s true. “I’m sorry for being rude about it.”

He wants to finish the thought with, _I was scared I’d lose everyone_ , but even though they’re admitting things, it feels too deep to get into now. If he admits there could have been a chance he would have risked it all if not for that fear, it’s saying too much.

Matteo shrugs but it certainly seems genuine. “I just wanted to let you know I’m not a shitty person.”

“I know,” David says softly. He’s known for a while. He doesn’t let them linger on that thought, not ready to confront what it means if Matteo isn’t so bad after all, so he tosses in a teasing, “That just means I expect best boyfriend behavior.”

Just like that, all the tension dissipates. 

“Hey! I brought coffee! And made sandwiches.”

“Hmm,” David hums in amusement. “The love language of food. That’s all you’ve got?”

Matteo shrugs. “My mom always said that it’s the way to a man’s heart.”

“Oh, so you’re trying to woo me,” David teases.

Matteo blushes and throws a torn piece of sandwich at him. Still, he somehow manages to lean forward and ask, “What kind of fake boyfriend would I be if I wasn’t?” 

The next day, Matteo seems to have taken being the best fake boyfriend possible to heart, because he insists on joining Sara to their group’s weekend study session. This is notable because Matteo doesn’t actually have any classes, and also because it is a Saturday and he could be anywhere else in the world. But here he is, sliding next to David and sprawling across the floor.

Leonie barely spares a glance up from the marketing project that she has been laboring over for days now. She looks between David and Matteo, sends him a warning _“be careful”_ face, and then distracts Sara from noticing too much about where Matteo has sat. 

Sara brightens at the attention with a smile so blinding, it’s a miracle that David hadn’t noticed Sara’s mutual crush before. Which is completely ridiculous considering how close the two girls usually sit. David had thought it was just Leonie, but no, Sara sits down and inches closer, combing her hair to the side so that she can see what Leonie is working on. Both of their cheeks turn pink. Hopeless, the both of them. 

It’s clear Leonie has decided to shield Sara from learning her crush is interested in someone else. She asks Sara questions when it looks like she’s about to glance at David and Matteo and involves her with her project as much as possible. David can almost respect that if not for the fact that it’s entirely against the plan.

David doesn’t have time to find out whether or not Sara ended up going to Leonie after class the other day, and what she’s doing with the information, because he is suddenly aware that Matteo is looking at his storyboard project.

David snaps it closed.

Matteo frowns at him, “That looked cool.”

Unfortunately, David cannot keep it hidden forever because he still has to finish it. He studies Matteo to see if he really means it and only gets a pout in response. David wants to die. Sometimes it is easy to forget how cute Matteo is, and how long David has been trying to repress the fact he is completely helplessly attracted to him, asshole or otherwise, but given how innocently Matteo’s eyes beg to be shown what David is working on, David finds himself giving in.

He opens his notebook and starts on the next panel. Matteo props his head up on his hands to watch him, unusually silent instead of their usual banter. It makes David feel the need to be a little bit showy with his art skills. His shadows become darker with more detail to his characters than is strictly needed for a storyboard, but Matteo doesn’t seem to mind. He seems enraptured.

When he glances at Sara and Leonie, he finds they aren’t paying attention at all. Instead, Sara has done the impossible and dragged Leonie away from her project with a few videos on youtube. Their hands are touching where they lean over her phone and they exchange little jokes and quips at something someone is doing. It’s cute.

David silently meets eyes with Matteo and nods in their direction. When Matteo seems them, he only rolls his eyes and makes a lewd gesture with his hands. David snorts. He and Matteo being there might not have done much as far as the plan goes, but at least they know Sara and Leonie are head over heels. 

The next week, Matteo starts picking him up after class. Mostly David’s film classes, even though he tells him that he doesn’t have to do those if Leonie and Sara aren’t in them, and in return, David will stop by the cafe. Sometimes Matteo provides free coffee, sometimes he doesn’t, but it isn’t as if David minds either way.

He hadn’t noticed that Sara’s smiles toward him had been somewhat subdued as of late until she learns that she doesn’t have to be jealous of him at all. She looks delighted every time she sees David and Matteo together, whether during a shift or after classes. David catches Leonie glancing at Sara more often than not, trying to glean Sara’s fading interest in Matteo.

David finds that it’s not a hardship to hang out with Matteo so often. Matteo asks him about his films and seems genuinely interested. David asks him about what he wants to do with his life outside of the espresso bar. It’s cold and snowy outside, and half the time he knows that Matteo will start a snowball fight for telling the wrong joke or teasing him but David likes teasing Matteo. His cheeks go red and he has the most amazing laugh, and he isn’t careful about touching David like some people after witnessing his end of school outing. He shoves David in the snow like he knows David isn’t afraid to shove him back.

So maybe it’s the touchy part that David likes. The careless way Matteo will fling his arm around his shoulders or how he grabs onto David’s coat sleeve when the sidewalk is slippery. And it’s not even that they’re performing for anyone, walking home from his classes is all alone, Matteo is just. Matteo.

He’s not who he was when he was dating Sara and David hates it. This wasn’t supposed to happen. He wasn’t supposed to start hanging out with Matteo and let himself think about everything that could have happened that night in Matteo’s room and if he hadn’t blown Matteo off so harshly. There’s no way Matteo likes him after that.

David doesn’t let their walks from his classes get too far. He’s good at keeping himself at a strict platonic amount of feelings without delving into topics that might lead to them talking about high school or The Incident again. But the more time they spend without Sara and Leonie, the harder it is to pretend that it isn’t real.

Then Matteo’s friends see them.

David doesn’t notice until he’s too late. Matteo has dragged him to a nearby park under the guise of keeping David from melting his brain by staring at his editing software too long, and just for once, David allowed himself to go. There are no children around when it’s this cold and the slides are slick with ice. It makes them a speeding hazard to go down, which means naturally Matteo has decided to do it. 

They aren’t even pretending to be romantic. It isn’t romantic at all. They’ve both just happened to slip on the ground, and they’re giggling and clinging to each other’s forearms as they try to stand, when David hears someone shout, “Oi! Matteo!”

David gets to his feet and spins around just in time to see Jonas Augustin jogging up to them. Jonas notices who Matteo is with at the same time David registers that he’d done a very good job of avoiding people from school up until now.

“Aye, David, right?” Jonas greets, sticking out a hand for a fist bump as if this is the most natural thing in the world. “How are you doing?”

“Umm…” David can’t decide. He feels like he’s itching with the knowledge that the last time Jonas saw him was probably through that stupid gym video. 

Luckily, Matteo saves him, throwing a casual arm around David’s shoulders as he reaches out to fist bump Jonas instead. “What’s up?”

“Just hanging with the boys,” Jonas says, nodding behind him. Sure enough, two other boys are running up from behind him, jumping on each other’s backs and shoving each other to the ground. David sees immediately how easily Matteo would fit in with this crowd, especially when Jonas adds teasingly, “If you’d check your messages, you’d know, Luigi.”

Matteo waves him off with a “pfft” as he grins.

There’s no pause in between the time Abdi and Carlos careen up to the group, notice David there, and immediately turn towards Matteo with raised eyebrows. 

“You know,” Abdi muses. The act is clearly staged. “I heard a strange rumor the other day. Jonas, what was it that Hanna mentioned the other day? That she heard from Leonie that Matteo had a boyfriend?”

“And here I thought our Luigi wouldn’t lie to us,” Carlos tisks. He shakes his head disapprovingly at Matteo and David, who suddenly becomes very aware of Matteo’s arm around his shoulder. David can’t believe he thought that no one else would get involved.

Jonas rolls his eyes. “Subtle. Why don’t you say hi like normal people, and maybe let Luigi decide when to introduce his boyfriend, yeah?”

David looks over at Matteo. Matteo looks back at him. Maybe David would trust one person to keep their fake relationship a secret but three? He might have seen them around before, talked to some even, but he never really knew Matteo’s friends. Not really. But they don’t seem to care that it’s him hanging out with Matteo, they’re even friendly, so without a word, David leans his shoulder into Matteo’s in silent permission to do whatever he trusted.

Matteo chooses to practically drape himself over David and announce, “This is David.”

David scoffs. They all know he’s David. But Carlos and Abdi seem to be waiting for verbal confirmation that his being introduced means something more and Matteo seems determined not to give it to them. Jonas is laughing.

“Matteo’s boyfriend,” David decides. It gives him a thrill saying it, which is probably not a good sign.

The three of them explode.

“ _Nice._ ”

“Weren’t you the one to give Matteo that solid burn after he didn’t text Sara back for an entire week?”

“Oh yeah, that was savage, bro. Good one.”

“Are you coming to our Christmas party next week?”

“You have to come, it’ll be so fun! It’s after we get out of classes, so there’s no studying to worry about.”

“Yeah, and you can invite Sara and Leonie. We’re good with them now, right?”

“Must be, because Luigi is dating David _Schreibne_ r.”

David hadn’t been aware he had been a thing. Like, associated enough with Sara and Leonie that it was impressive Matteo was dating him, and also that they didn’t hate him for having hated Matteo at some point or another. While Jonas, Abdi, and Carlos debate the merits of David’s best snappy retort or something, David glances over at Matteo to see if he minds. Instead of being upset or unhappy, Matteo just looks pleased, like he won some contest having won David’s heart.

_It’s not real, it’s not real, it’s not real._

After Matteo’s friends finally say their goodbyes, going to find a basketball court or wherever they were going, Matteo turns on David with a smile that shows exactly what he thinks of his friends. He loves them. David yearns.

“So, I’m going to a party?” David asks.

“I guess so,” Matteo says happily.

It’s the third time that Leonie has dragged David to the coffee shop that week to investigate the mystery of whether or not Sara is still hung up on Matteo. The ending result is always the same. A resounding no. Because Sara never liked Matteo to begin with.

She seems pretty casual at the counter now and doesn’t aim to kiss Matteo’s cheek or flirt anymore. Sara acts as if they always have been, and always will be, just friends. Leonie even comes by when David is busy to see if Sara is just acting friendly because Matteo’s boyfriend is around, but reports the same information.

Now the question is if it’s too soon to ask her out, but in David’s opinion, it should have happened months ago instead of Sara’s insane jealousy plot. Now Leonie just yearns for no reason.

She watches wistfully as Matteo sneaks David a donut over the counter and collapses into her chair the minute they sit down. David is afraid she’s breaking from being exposed too long to the idea that Sara will never like her back. 

“I want love,” Leonie drawls, staring at David’s fugitive donut. “How come you get a boyfriend within a week of me learning you like him?”

“Don’t know what to tell you,” David shrugs. 

“Yeah, but it makes no sense,” Leonie says, and David can tell she’s been thinking about this for a while. “You hated him and he was being a nuisance and then all of a sudden you’re flirting? And the next week you’re on a date? I’ve been in love with Sara for years.”

If that’s not enough to make David feel guilty, he doesn’t know what is. Because she makes it seem so simple, and of course David can’t beat however long she’s been waiting to get or get over her best friend. Things aren’t simple for him either: he decided to pretend to date someone he had almost kissed and then completely blew off in high school, and now he wishes he could take it all back.

David breaks off half of his donut and gives it to her.

“You and Matteo are cute,” she says apologetically. “However it happened, I’m glad you found each other.”

“You and Sara would be cute too,” David counters. He’s not pretending for no reason after all.

“I don’t know,” Leonie frowns. “She’ll find someone else soon, and I’ll just be here. Like I always am.”

David does not like this unconfident Leonie. She’s done presentations in front of giant crowds, she’s already planning on graduating early, and she’s the most put-together person David knows. If she wants something, she goes and gets it.

“I liked Matteo when Sara was dating him,” David admits.

Leonie’s head snaps from where she is hopelessly watching Sara taking someone’s order and looks him dead in the eye. At least David has said it out loud, even when all he can feel is the anxiety of what Leonie might say. 

“We didn’t do anything,” David immediately goes on the defensive. “But I liked him, and I think he liked me-” before they ruined it, but David doesn’t say that part. Instead, he lies. “-so it didn’t come out of nowhere.”

“You didn’t tell me,” Leonie says quietly.

“Well,” David shrugs helplessly. “We thought he was an asshole. I had to be there for Sara.”

“You must not have thought he was an asshole,” Leonie corrects. “If you liked him.”

“I did. But then I didn’t.”

Leonie dares to laugh. “You did, and then you didn’t?”

David doesn’t know how else to explain it. It had somehow been simultaneously both. He looks over at Matteo, who looks up as if sensing his eyes on him. He knows Matteo a lot more now than that day in the hallway and he wonders how much Matteo caught on about him. Matteo grins.

When he looks back at Leonie, she’s back to staring at Sara. They’re hopeless piners, the both of them. She doesn’t look away when she asks, “So what you’re saying is I have a chance?”

_More of a chance than I do_ , David says in his head, but out loud he only says, “She’d be insane if she turned you down.”

The rumor mill apparently spreads further than previously thought because now that David is boyfriend official, everyone in Matteo’s life wants to meet him. David doesn’t know how to control it. There is no controlling it. The next thing he knows, he’s expected to meet Matteo’s roommates so that they can get to know him before their Christmas party as if socializing isn’t what parties are for.

David has interacted with more people this week than he has this whole semester so far.

Matteo has told David about his roommates on their little walks and how they took him in when things were at their worst, and if they don’t like David, he’s afraid Matteo won’t like him either. It’s ridiculous. Only a couple months ago, he didn’t care if Matteo liked him, but now he doesn’t know what he’d do without him.

Matteo drags David to his flatshare before anyone else is due to come home, sits him down on his bed, and warns, “They might expect us to do more than hold hands. Hans notices a lot.”

His cheeks are pink in embarrassment. David can feel his cheeks flushing as well when he thinks about what Matteo is suggesting. It doesn’t help that Matteo has decided to have this conversation in his room where David can’t avoid the memories of an almost kiss and both of them being a bit cruel.

David is already struggling to try to compartmentalize the touches that Matteo already gives him. He’s always touching David even when there is no one around, and so his baseline judgment of what is okay is very high. But romantic touches? Kissing, and cuddling, and being allowed to wrap his arms around Matteo? David isn’t afraid of mistaking that as romantic on Matteo’s end, David had been rude to him for so long that there’s no way Matteo would be interested now, but it’d be much harder to hide how much he wants.

David’s gaze falls to Matteo’s lips before he manages to clear his throat. “I, um. Maybe we should just do whatever feels natural? If we were actually dating.”

Matteo just nods. 

“And if we have to,” David can’t help but add. “I guess, I wouldn’t mind if we…”

Matteo’s eyes fly up to meet his, and David can’t get himself to finish the word _kiss_. 

“To convince him, right?” Matteo asks.

“Right,” David croaks out.

Matteo is looking at his lips now too. There is nothing to stop them this time. Everyone already thinks they’re dating, and for all intents and purposes, they are. Nothing can go wrong this time except for David’s stellar streak of self-sabotage. 

Matteo kisses him, briefly, just to test how far they're willing to go before pulling away.

David has no time to even process what has happened. All he knows is that Matteo just kissed him and he doesn’t want that to be their only one. He yanks Matteo closer, ready to pull away if necessary, but Matteo giggles and grabs onto his sweater to make sure David doesn’t move away. David doesn’t want to move away.

Mouths move against each other, hands shift from waists to shoulders to necks, and David feels like he’s been waiting forever for this. Matteo kisses like he’s been starving.

Just then, the door flies open. David and Matteo jump apart like it isn’t immediately obvious what has been happened, just to see an ecstatic man wearing a colorful polo and a beanie, whose eyes light up when they land on David. David gives an awkward wave and tries to ignore the tension in the room that had just been interrupted. He doesn’t look over at Matteo. On the plus side, they don’t have to kiss later for their relationship to be convincing. 

“You must be David,” Hans gushes, shaking David’s hand. “I’ve heard so much about you!”

David isn't sure if he wants to know what had been said. Beside him, Matteo kicks at Hans’ legs with a hissed, “ _Hans,”_ who only laughs and bops Matteo’s nose. “I hope you know that you’re making pasta tonight, butterfly. Can’t be making out with your boyfriend all night.”

“Hans,” Matteo groans again, falling back on the bed. He sends Hans a week glare but when his eyes shift over to David, they soften. David is fairly certain his own eyes are fond. It’s funny how things that seemed so annoying before are just endearing to him now. 

Matteo grumbles out a “Fine,” and pulls himself up toward the door.

Hans watches him leave for the kitchen before looking back at David in awe. “He never listens the first time. We need to keep you around.”

David lets himself laugh and hopes it doesn’t sound panicked.

Mia is nice. David recognizes her from high school too, but all he remembers is that she had been dating someone who had already graduated. If she remembers anything about David’s final weeks of school, she doesn’t say anything. Instead, she just smiles and pours him a glass of wine, asking him about some issue she had read in the news instead.

Linn is quiet but David respects that. It balances out Hans’ loudness, and they all seem very determined to make David feel included. For someone who had just been kissing him a couple of minutes ago, it’s Matteo who makes David feel comfortable the most. Matteo makes David feel like they aren’t pretending, and it’s a very dangerous slope to be lulled into, but for tonight David lets himself fall and enjoy himself with interesting people who Matteo loves. It’s better than completely freaking out in front of everyone.

Matteo kicks David’s feet under the table whenever Hans cooes about Matteo’s “new polite boyfriend, he’s very smart, Matteo, I hope you know you’ve landed yourself a catch”. Matteo glare says " _you’re making them like you more than me_ " but he’s smiling. He kicks at David so often that Mia asks them politely, with a hint of amusement, if they could stop playing footsie under the table.

David gives Matteo a hard kick in the shin back so he can pretend that he isn’t blushing.

They collapse on the couch afterward to watch something on tv and Matteo slumps against David like it’s the easiest thing in the world. His head rests on David’s shoulder. David can smell the soap he had used to wash his hair and lets himself wrap an arm around Matteo’s waist. Maybe it _is_ the easiest thing in the world.

An episode passes by. Then another. David can feel Matteo’s shallow breath against his collarbone as he slumps further with sleep. It’s got a comforting rhythm to it: the faded noise of the tv in the background and the rise and fall of Matteo’s chest. David’s head droops down on Matteo’s, his eyes fading shut before he wakes himself up. He catches Hans watching them in the blue of the tv screen but Hans only smiles. Then he slowly pulls himself up from his perch and flicks off the tv. Around them, Linn flutters in her sleep, curled up in a blanket, and Mia drags herself across the living room to a nearby bedroom.

David doesn’t want to wake Matteo up.

“You should stay the night,” Hans whispers. “It’s too late for you to be headed back.”

David is too tired to disagree with him. He’s ready to fall asleep right then and there on the couch, but Matteo shifts in his sleep and David knows it’d be uncomfortable to stay this way all night, even more so when Matteo wakes up.

“Matteo,” David says quietly, jostling Matteo awake. Matteo only buries his nose into David’s jacket with a small noise of disapproval. David tries again. “Matteo.” 

“What?” Matteo mumbles without opening his eyes.

“Let’s get you to bed,” David whispers, and luckily, Matteo fumbles to his feet even if he is still leaning a lot of weight on David. Hans tucks a blanket over them both, taking the opportunity to give them a short hug, before waving them off towards Matteo’s room.

Matteo falls on his face the minute he reaches the mattress, pulling David down with him. David would suggest he change into pajamas but Matteo doesn’t seem to mind for now and David certainly doesn’t. He just wants to sleep. He takes back the blanket Hans had wrapped around them, determined to make himself a nice place to rest out on the couch, but Matteo is coherent enough to grab his wrist.

“Stay?” Matteo asks.

David looks back to see tired pleading eyes, and there isn’t a world in which David could ever say no to that. He climbs into the bed across from Matteo and covers himself with the blanket. Matteo doesn’t let go of him. Instead, he worms his way closer, and David swears his heart is beating out of his chest. Only then does he force himself to repeat:

_It’s not real, it’s not real, it’s not real._

The next morning, David leaves before Matteo can wake up.

It feels like everyone he wants to talk to about this already thinks he and Matteo are dating. He wishes he could talk to Leonie but then she’ll know that he’s tricked her and she had seemed so happy that David had found someone. He’d talk to Sara but it’s the same issue. When he gets back to his apartment, he finds a note saying that Laura has left town for a couple of days for work.

So instead, he wanders to the library and tries to distract himself with editing. He can’t avoid Matteo forever but he can certainly try. He had thought he could stand pretending to not be interested in Matteo while pretending to be interested in Matteo longer than this. And now that they've kissed? No one had been around, it hadn't been for show, but _somehow_ that was exactly what it ended up being.

David can't do this. There are only a few more days left until holiday break so David can find excuses to be busy. He’ll stay after class. He can get caffeine somewhere else.

So he does. He manages to last until the night of the party buried in his apartment finishing assignments and playing games on his phone. 

It’s Sara who finds him. More accurately, she finds the spare key to his apartment and breaks into his living room while he’s trying to drown out his thoughts in music. The first thing she does is point her phone accusingly at David and announce, “Matteo texted me. He’s wondering where you’re coming tonight.”

David is forced to pull down his headphones. He tries not to wonder how many messages he sent David before resorting to trying to find out through Sara. “I’m staying here.”

“No, duh,” Sara rolls her eyes, plopping down on the couch. “But you didn’t tell him that.”

“I didn’t tell you that either,” David says defensively.

“I’m not your boyfriend,” Sara retorts. David looks down at his hands as he tries not to say anything about that. Sara’s voice softens. “Did you get in a fight?”

It’s not judgment. David and Matteo should have gotten in a fight ages ago. But instead, all that had been left after setting their differences aside were stolen glances and jokes and reaching out to touch whenever possible. David doesn’t know what to do with that. He doesn’t know what to do with the force that pulls him closer every time he sees Matteo again or what gets him to throw all ideas of fact and fiction to the wind so that he can kiss him. David can't stop remembering kissing him.

“No,” he admits. 

“Well, you’re avoiding him for some reason, and as the friend of both of you, I want to be able to fix it,” Sara says decisively. “I’ll get it, David, whatever it is. I used to date him too, and he’s sometimes a dumbass but his heart’s in the right place, even if it takes a while to realize it.”

“I don’t think that applies here,” David mutters.

“Maybe not,” Sara agrees. She takes his hand and squeezes it. “But he seems happy when he’s with you. And you seem happy too.”

“I like him too much.”

“David,” Sara laughs. “You’re literally dating.”

“But-” David tries, but can’t find a way to reason out of this one.

“Leonie asked me out,” Sara announces. It’s ironic how that means that technically David and Matteo technically aren’t actually dating anymore according to the only rule they thought to make. “And she told me what you told her about you two liking each other in high school.”

“Sara-” David goes to apologize, but Sara cuts him off.

“David, if you’ve liked each other for so long, why would he not like you as much now?”

There’s a long list of things, most of which come down to David didn’t hear him out when he should have and because David lashed out of him instead of giving them a try. He knew he liked Matteo and never gave them a chance they deserved. He also might have been a dick a couple or more times in order to get out of those feelings.

David shrugs.

“You know,” she muses, wrapping her arms around her legs as she sits upright to look at him. “After he broke up with me at the abiball, he told me that he had met a boy who made him realize that he couldn’t hide forever, no matter how much he tried and that’s why he broke up with me. I thought it might have been you when you were outed, but now I think it might have just been you in general. I’m not letting you wallow in here thinking he doesn’t like you enough.”

“He what?” David starts.

“David,” Sara says like she’s talking to a dumbass. Maybe she is. “Matteo had a crush on you long before he asked you out. If you ever did something wrong, I’m sure he forgave you. Communicate more in your relationship. Now answer Matteo’s texts and tell him you're not going or show up to his party, Leonie is waiting for me.”

“How come Leonie isn’t up here?” David asks, baffled.

“Because Matteo didn’t text her all worried about you, did he? Get up.”

Everything sinks in at once. David scrambles to his feet as Sara laughs at him, which is rich coming from a girl whose plan to get the girl she liked to ask her out was to pretend to be interested in someone else. Then again, he and Matteo had pretended to date to get them together. If Leonie had been brave enough to ask Sara out, even after their intervention, David can try too.

It isn’t the party David had been expecting when he gets there, Sara and Leonie in tow. In high school, it would have been loud dubstep music and neon party lights, but today it’s just about a dozen people in a living room laughing and drinking egg nog. 

Immediately, all attention turns toward them as they walk through the door, with Abdi shouting a delighted, “David’s here!”

David meets Matteo’s eyes across the room and notices the way he’s slumped into a chair somewhat separate from the group. David did that, probably, by running away again and ignoring all his messages in the past few days. Leonie kicks him forward to enter the room and David snaps out of it, smiling back at Abdi and accepting another one of Jonas’ fist bumps.

He makes his way over to Matteo’s chair and sits next to him. If anyone notices that neither of them put their arm around each other, they don’t comment. The conversation slowly builds back up again with everyone leaving them alone.

Matteo is watching Sara and Leonie chat with Hanna, both of them giggling and pressing kisses to each other’s cheeks. Without looking away he says, “We got them together.”

“Yeah,” David agrees.

“I guess we should break up soon?”

“Actually, I’ve been thinking about that,” David says, gathering up all his nerves. He takes Matteo’s attention as encouragement. “What if we don’t?”

“What?” Matteo asks incredulously.

“We’ve already been going on dates and I’ve met all your friends. Your roommates like me-”

“Hans is going to adopt you-"

“-Shut up. I’m trying to say that I like you.”

He’s tackled by a kiss before he can even finish. Someone who’s been watching the two of them wolf whistles and David swears it’s Leonie. What a pal. But David doesn’t care who it is because he’s too distracted by Matteo pulling away and socking his arm.

“You avoided me for days because you _like_ me?”

“I might have been under the impression that you didn’t like me back,” David explains sheepishly.

“I wanted you to sleep in my bed,” Matteo blinks. “We kissed.”

“You said it was to be convincing!” David retorts, but even that sounds stupid.

“I’ve been giving you free things from the cafe,” Matteo says in disbelief. David shrugs as Matteo continues, “I walked you from all your classes. I messed up all your coffee drinks so you would pay more attention to me for months.”

“What?” David laughs. 

Matteo blushes. “You never said anything to stop me so I thought you knew!”

“That’s how you _flirt_?”

“Hey,” Matteo pouts. “It worked, didn’t it?”

“Eventually,” David admits. 

“Matteo, David!” Jonas calls from somewhere to their left. “Stop making eyes and join us!”

Matteo flips Jonas off and kisses David just because he can. David pulls Matteo into another one just because he can as well before dragging both of them to their feet. Matteo whines and David has to kiss him again just to convince him to join. Everyone else has started dancing and waltzing to Christmas music.

“Boyfriend,” David invites regally, holding out his hand for Matteo to take.

Matteo rolls his eyes and grabs onto his hand, only dragging his feet a little when David leads him closer to the group. Sara grins at them, pulling them by her and Leonie, where Leonie looks equally pleased with themselves. 

It had taken a while for all four of them to get figured out, but as they dance, David thinks it had all worked for the better. 


End file.
